Oura Ring vs Ultrahuman Ring: Which Sleep Tracker Is Actually Better?
Oura Ring vs Ultrahuman Ring AIR
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission — at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
When it comes to wearable sleep tracking, two sleek smart rings dominate the market: Oura Ring Gen 3 and the newer Ultrahuman Ring AIR.
But which one actually gives you better insights? Which is more accurate, more comfortable, and worth your hard earned money?
In this guide, we compare Oura vs Ultrahuman across five key areas, with a special focus on sleep tracking, recovery, and biohacking potential.
1. Sleep Tracking
Oura Ring
Oura has been leading the sleep tracking game for years. It provides:
Sleep score (0–100)
Sleep stages (REM, deep, light)
Sleep latency
Restfulness and disturbances
HRV, heart rate, body temperature
Oura’s algorithms are backed by peer-reviewed studies, showing over 78% agreement with polysomnography (the gold standard for sleep measurement).
Study: Accuracy of the Oura Ring for Sleep Tracking – Nature and Science of Sleep (2022)
Oura also automatically detects sleep and wake time with strong precision, and offers readable, actionable insights like "your sleep is trending downward, try earlier light exposure tomorrow."
Ultrahuman Ring
Ultrahuman’s sleep tracking is newer but promising. It tracks:
Sleep stages (with visual timelines)
Movement during sleep
Heart rate and HRV
Skin temperature variation
Sleep Index – a custom score similar to Oura’s
Ultrahuman leans into real-time feedback and granular data, ideal for people who want to cross reference data from other sources like glucose levels (if you also wear their M1 CGM patch).
Note: Early independent testing shows Ultrahuman's sleep stage detection is accurate, but still lacks clinical validation studies published in journals, something Oura has built its reputation on.
2. HRV, Recovery & Readiness
Oura Ring
HRV (heart rate variability) is a core recovery metric. Oura tracks this during deep sleep and presents it in the Readiness Score, which includes:
HRV
Resting heart rate
Sleep quality
Activity balance
This makes Oura an ideal tool for balancing training loads and recovery.
Ultrahuman Ring
Ultrahuman adds its own twist with:
“Stim Index” – A measure of daily stimulation vs recovery
Movement index
Real-time HRV trends
You get slightly more data with Ultrahuman, but fewer simple summaries. It is ideal if you want to dive into the details or are taking your training seriously.
3. Temperature, Activity, and App Interface
Temperature Tracking
Oura shines here, it has been used in studies to detect early illness and predict the menstruation phase.
Ultrahuman has similar sensors and promises faster temperature shift detection, but there is limited third-party validation.
Study: Oura Ring Predicts Illness from Body Temp Variations – Scientific Reports (2020)
Activity Tracking
Oura is not a step tracker, it focuses more on activity balance over volume.
Ultrahuman tracks movement and activity in more detail, with a higher focus on performance.
App Interface
Oura has a clean, calming user experience with summaries and trends.
Ultrahuman is data-dense, with deep graphs and metrics. Think, Whoop meets Garmin.
Pricing: Subscription vs No Subscription
Oura Ring Gen 3: £280 + £5.99/month subscription for full insights.
Ultrahuman Ring AIR: £299 one-time cost + no monthly fee.
Oura quite quickly works out to be more expensive due to ongoing subsrciption costs, however it does have a longer track record and polished ecosystem. Whilst it is only £5.99, in a world full of subscriptions, you may be left feeling a little bitter every month, knowing that the Ultrahuman Ring is subscription free.
Which One Should You Choose?
The Oura Ring Gen 3 wins if you want:
Proven, clinically backed sleep tracking
User-friendly insights
A clean intuitive app
Women’s health tracking (cycles, temp)
The Ultrahuman Ring AIR wins if you want:
A subscription-free option
Data-rich reports and performance focus
A tighter integration with glucose tracking
A newer, rapidly evolving product
Our Verdict: Oura for Sleep, Ultrahuman for Biohackers
Both rings are impressive, but they serve slightly different purposes.
If your top priority is sleep tracking, Oura is still the leader in wearable sleep tech.
If you're chasing performance gains, like combining sleep with blood glucose and movement data, the Ultrahuman Ring offers a compelling, all-in-one biohacking tool.
Either way, both are solid investments, especially if better sleep, recovery, and energy are part of your goals.
